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Yoga for Nervous System Regulation | Spring Class 8
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New here? Read this first!
Yoga for Nervous System Regulation is a unique program combining yogic tradition with neuroscience to help students engage with the nervous system, calm stress responses, and cultivate peace and resilience in body and mind. Learn more about the program here.
Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of this practice.
- Please complete the entire Spring Series in order before moving on to subsequent series, regardless of the current season. Each series builds upon the material covered in previous seasons, so doing them in sequence is important for your understanding and your safety.
- Yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach, which means no food for 2 hours prior and no beverages for 30 minutes prior. Follow your practice with food and plenty of water. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.
- Each weekly class consists of a playlist of 3 practices to be completed in order. The asana (yoga poses) prepare us for pranayama (breathwork) which prepares us for meditation, which prepares us for life!
- This course is designed to accommodate a range of learning styles. Below the video playlist you’ll find additional visual aids and links to resources that enhance the learning experience.
- Yoga is a very individualized experience, and it’s normal to have questions or concerns. I would love to hear yours! Please submit a comment at the bottom of the page, or follow KMKyoga on Instagram, where I share additional insights, support, and resources with a growing community of fellow practitioners.
Thanks for being here!
This week’s class is all about boundaries. We’ll begin to explore the niyamas, starting with sauca (“sh-ow-cha”) as it pertains to boundaries as a form of self-care.
Remember, yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments section at the bottom of the page, or by sending me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org. I’m happy to help with clarifications or modifications to ensure your practice is safe, comfortable, and enjoyable.
Find a quiet space with room to move. You may wish to pause notifications on your digital device. Gather your mat, a sturdy chair, some water, and a blanket. When you’re ready, hit Play on the first video in the playlist – asana – to begin.
Enjoy your practice!
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Spring Class 8 Video Instruction
Each class playlist consists of three videos to be practiced in order:
Asana ➙ Pranayama ➙ Meditation
The purpose of asana (yoga pose or “seat”) and pranayama (breathwork) are to prepare the body and mind for meditation, where the real magic happens! I strongly suggest you try the classes in sequence, but after you’ve completed the entire sequence at least once, feel free to revisit individual parts as you’d like.
Once you complete a video, the player will automatically advance to the next one in the playlist. You can skip to the next video at any time using the next/previous arrows at the bottom of the player window, or by clicking the icon in the top right corner.
Asana (Pose) Descriptions
The following diagrams are offered as a supplement to today’s asana practice. Use them to quickly reference specific poses in the video, review verbal instructions in written form, and clarify details from the class. Scroll within each text box for transcript excerpts with time stamps indicating when each pose is demonstrated in the Asana Video for today’s class.
Come forward on the chair. Same seated position, sits-bones are on the chair.
00:02:56:11 – 00:03:24:22
Knees and feet are hip width apart and my knees are over top of my heels. I’m going to pull my feet without actually moving them to get that angle to the pelvis. And then the spine stacks up, the chin lifts a little, hands rest in your lap. Soften your feet, don’t pull. Once you’ve got the position, take a long, gentle inhale that makes you a little taller.
00:03:25:00 – 00:04:15:23
And on exhale, close eyes. Bring your attention to the breath in your nose, throat, chest, belly. And then that little triangle between navel and the bottom of your breastbone, where you can feel your diaphragm move down on inhale and up on exhale. If you can’t feel it inside your body, you can use the palm of your hand and you’ll probably be able to feel it.
00:04:16:01 – 00:04:55:05
So centering on that area and then watch your whole torso breathe and with your next inhale, bring eyes open. Take a moment to notice how you feel. I’m going to keep saying that often. So let’s check out. I like to always start with the limitations you bring. Are your shoulders and upper back happy? Is your lower back able to do the simple things that we’re going to try?
00:04:55:09 – 00:05:04:00
So we pretty much start with the same openers. Let your arms hang down. Remember, not military pose, not exaggerated slump.
00:05:04:00 – 00:05:26:20
let your arms hang freely from your shoulders. Exhale here and you can turn your palms as you inhale up. You can look up too if your neck is happy and exhale takes you down. I’ll do one more inhale up, exhale down.
00:05:26:22 – 00:05:36:04
I’d like you to pause the video and try a few at your own pace and see how your shoulders feel when you’re done.
00:05:44:13 – 00:06:13:05
So take a moment to notice how your shoulders, your neck, your upper back feel. Just notice. And then let’s go wide. We’re still on the front edge of the chair. I want your thighs and knees to point right toward the space between your second and third toe. And then on this side, same idea. Second and third toe.
00:06:13:07 – 00:06:46:15
Your hands are on your legs, on your thighs, palms down. We’re going to inhale here. And then hinging only at the hips. Of course, your elbows will bend to go down. You come straight as long as you can and then begin to curve down. Let your head hang and then inhale back up again. So if your back was happy, let’s try using the breath to relax the back even a little more.
00:06:46:19 – 00:07:17:20
Inhale here. Exhale forward. Hinging at the hips, straight as you can until you need to curl down. Direct your attention to your low belly and inhale and exhale as you soften belly. You can feel your low back begin to lengthen and soften. Direct your attention to your upper belly as you take another inhale.
00:07:17:22 – 00:07:55:16
As you soften. Exhale. Soften that upper belly and more of your back is hanging from the tailbone. Getting longer. Breathe in to your upper back and shoulders. And on exhale soften shoulders, neck. Let your head hang free. Remember, for safety, we take a deep breath down here before we come back up again. Inhale. Here. Exhale. And then inhale your way back up.
00:07:29:06 – 00:07:49:11
Okay, we’re going to put it all together now. But I want you to be cautious. Remember, yoga never hurts. No pain. No pain. So … if you were having any twinges anywhere in your back when we were doing that forward bend holding onto the knees, I want you to hold on again. You won’t be able to do the arm motions.
00:07:49:12 – 00:08:14:09
That’s okay. Your back will eventually, most likely, be happy enough to do it later on, but you have to respect it first. But … if you had no back twinges, we’re going to go ahead and put both motions together.
So let your arms hang down. Pull in your feet a little to make sure your spine is long. Exhale here.
00:08:14:11 – 00:08:44:01
Inhale up. Soft shoulders, soft neck, soft arms. And then hinge at the hips as you exhale down, laying on your thighs. Bring your arms down and your fingers will come right to your heels. And your head will hang. Press down with the feet and lift the arms and face up first. And then inhale your way back up again.
00:08:44:02 – 00:09:13:07
I’ll talk you through one more of those as we exhale down, hinging at the hips, lying on your thighs … and let your arms go limp and bring your fingers in to your heels and your head hangs. Let your neck be really limp. This is a wonderful stretch for the neck and upper back. So … I’m going to come back up and I’m going to bring my arms down.
00:09:13:08 – 00:09:23:21
But I’d like you to try a few more of those at your breath pace. Your breath pace is always going to be different and it’s right for you. So … try a few more like that.
00:09:33:10 – 00:10:02:03
And then, you guessed it … notice how you feel. Scan your body. Notice particularly anywhere that feels a little warmer, a little tingly. You’re probably doing some changes there in a positive way. So .. if you were able to do the forward bend with no back pain, we can move on to a standing forward bend with the chair, which is much safer.
00:07:55:18 – 00:08:14:21
Walk your feet in to hip width apart again. Remember, we’re doing that because when the head is lower than the heart, you can have a bit of a rush that can make you feel a little bit dizzy when you come up. So I’m going to move the chair around and we’re going to go right to doing half sun salutations.
00:08:14:23 – 00:08:22:19
This is the pose that I was telling you about. The movement I was telling you about that really will help you to monitor your self-care. So I’m going to turn my chair around and put out my mat.
00:08:39:19 – 00:08:55:18
You want your mat remember, anchored by your chair and any time you’re doing standing poses at home, I would like your chair to be up against something sturdy.
00:08:55:18 – 00:09:37:14
You don’t want the chair moving when you’re using it for balance. So face your chair. We’ve done this one a couple of times before, and we’re going to do a series so that you can notice your own breath. So exhale here, inhale up, and then remember, we’re sticking the bottom out. We’re balancing our way down. Whenever you can, hold on to the front of the chair and continue down hinging at the tailbone. Your head might rest on the chair or hang freely. And then inhale back up.
00:09:37:16 – 00:10:02:15
And another one exhale down. Inhale up. And then I’m going to exhale my arms down because I’d like you to pause the video and try a few of those at your breath pace.
00:10:10:07 – 00:10:36:19
So, you know, I want you to notice how you feel before we go on to the next bit. So take a moment. Do a little scan. Do a little scan. Okay. We’re going to add the lunge. You’ve done this before, but as you progress through asana, pranayama and meditation, your ability to regulate breath, i.e., regulate your nervous system will improve.
00:10:37:00 – 00:11:00:11
And so I want you to notice this time, maybe doing a few more than you have in the past. Remember the criteria for how many to do is when the joy is done. You know, when the muscles aren’t stretching anymore, when they’re not feeling like they’re building up strength. So come in. Same stance. You’re just going to add the lunge.
00:11:00:13 – 00:11:39:12
Exhale. Here. Inhale up. Exhale. Forward bend. Down you come. Hold on. Ease down. Let go of all of your air. Shift your weight onto your right foot. Bend your left knee and put your foot as far back as you can. Shoulders away from ears. Bring the front knee directly over top of the heel. The back hip will come down and lift up so that you have a long line from the front of your foot.
00:11:39:12 – 00:12:07:00
All the way up to your face. Nice, long, curved line. Then to come out of this, lie on your thigh again. Straighten that front leg. Bend the back leg and jump in, place that foot. And down you come. Inhale up. We’ll do the other side. Remember, we’re not symmetrical creatures. So it’s going to be different. Be gentle on the second side.
00:12:07:02 – 00:12:36:00
Exhaling your way down. Soften that belly. Release. Let the back hang from the tailbone. Shift your weight onto your left foot. Bend your right knee and throw that foot as far back as you can. Shoulders away from ears. Front knee over your heel. Long, straight back leg. Lift up your chest. Lift up your face. Bend this leg. Straighten this leg.
00:12:36:00 – 00:13:08:10
Bend that leg. Jump in and hang again. Inhale up. I’m going to talk you through one more just to make sure we’re on, we’re all on board. So exhale here. Inhale up. Exhale. Forward bend. Sticking the bottom out. Hold on to the chair. Ease down. Hang from the tailbone. Shift the weight on to the right foot. Throw the left foot back.
00:13:08:12 – 00:13:32:08
Shoulders away from ears. Front knees over the heel. Chest comes up. Lay on your front thigh. Straighten that one. Then the back one. Jump and place your foot at the outside of your chair, hip width apart. Again, soften and hang. Inhale up.
00:13:32:10 – 00:14:10:20
Exhale. Down. Hold. Hang. Shift the weight on to the left foot. Bend right knee. Throw it back. Bring left knee over the heel. Shoulders away from the ears. Straight back leg. Lay on the front thigh. Straighten that one. Bend the back one and jump in. Inhale up and exhale down. So I want you to try a few of those on your own.
00:14:10:22 – 00:14:32:15
When you’re trying these, you have to keep in mind also not just how it feels in your body, but how much time you have to spend on yoga. Probably two or 3 minutes per pose will get the effects you want. But remember, everybody’s different. So give that a try. Pause the video and give that a try
00:15:57:18 – 00:16:29:13
So let’s change a little bit. I’m going to move the chair away and we’re going to do a practice on the floor that is – we’ve done it before and it gives you an opportunity to regulate breath carefully inside of the asana practice. So make your way to the floor in any way that’s comfortable for you. I’d like you to lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat.
00:16:29:15 – 00:16:53:09
The movement we’re going to do is really simple. It’s just lowering your knees to one side, but we’re going to notice how this affects our breath. So first of all, let’s get the low back flat. Bring one knee to your chest. Fingers are in the knee creases, not on top of the knees. Go back and forth a little bit until your lower back is flat.
00:16:53:11 – 00:17:22:23
Bring one knee down at a time. Not both. Place your arms out in a T position. Palms down. Walk your knees and feet together. So in this position, I like you to notice your breath. Count your breath like you would count thunder and lightning. You know, we, we hear the boom and we count one and two and three.
00:17:22:23 – 00:18:03:23
And count your breath like that. Just notice the breath you’ve got. Count inhale, count exhale. You know that physical exercise puts more demand on your breath, so your breath count might go down a little bit. But say your count is four. This is what it would look like. I inhale here. And then one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
00:18:04:04 – 00:18:43:08
So it’s exhale going down. Inhale. Coming up. One, two, three, four. Always pause. And then one, two, three, four. So try that a few times on your own. Notice how your breath is affected by the movement. It’s a pretty simple movement. It’s gentle and slow. Notice how it’s affected. Notice what happens. And particularly notice where in your body you’re feeling the demand for air.
00:18:43:10 – 00:18:47:12
So try that. Try a few on your own and see what happens.
00:18:57:10 – 00:19:26:04
So notice, notice, notice. Do you feel different for having modulated your breath along with your movement? That’s ultimately our goal, that all movement will be modulated with breath, but it’s a hard thing to synchronize. It’s a hard thing to become aware of. I just like you to give it a try. So I’m still on my back and we’re going to add the bridge.
00:19:26:06 – 00:19:51:05
I’m counting the breath with bridge is a little bit harder, so let’s leave it out for today. We might pick that up at a later date. We’re just going to use the bridge as a counter pose to the pose that we just did. Remember, the feet are now hip width apart, parallel still, arms are now alongside your body, palms down.
00:19:51:07 – 00:20:24:04
And the first thing we do is press the feet into the mat so that the pelvis tilts, the pubic bone comes up and the lower back presses against the mat. And then you release the feet and the tailbone goes down and upper back curves. Just do that a few times to get the rhythm of it. It also feels really good if you have some tension in your mid back.
00:20:24:05 – 00:20:51:01
And as much as we all sit, we all have a little bit, I imagine. Just back and forth a few times. So up is your inhale; pressing the feet down and the lower back against the mat is your exhale. With your next inhale, push your knees away and let your hips come up. Exhale down one vertebra at a time.
00:20:51:03 – 00:21:30:14
Very gently. And when you feel your lower back, make contact. Inhale again. Exhale back, and then inhale up and exhale down one vertebra at a time. Almost feels like a little massage you give yourself. And when your lower back is flat, that’s when you can inhale again. So try a few of those on your own very gently, if you’re having any pain in your knees, you can take your feet a little farther away.
00:21:30:18 – 00:21:54:10
You might not come up as high. That’s okay. Knees are very, very important. We want the knees to be comfortable. Also, another trick if the knees are giving you a hard time, is to lift your toes, not the soles of your feet. They stay on the mat. But with the toes lifted, the support, the supporting muscles for the knees
00:21:54:16 – 00:22:04:08
from knee to foot are activated and in a better position to protect your knee integrity. So try a few of those on your own, please.
00:22:13:05 – 00:22:38:23
So I want you to notice. I want you to notice how your breath is. I want you to notice your body. Just do that little scan from toes to the top of your head. And for our last pose, this is a really, really simple version of a forward bend. If you think about it, it’s a reverse forward bend.
00:22:38:23 – 00:23:07:11
One hand in this knee crease, one hand in this. Rocket back and forth and get flat again. Your arms are the brakes, otherwise they don’t do any work here. So with knees fairly close together, inhale away just until your arms are straight, and then let your hips bring the knees back toward the chest. We’re not pulling. We’re just letting gravity and the hips do the work.
00:23:07:13 – 00:23:39:09
And then you can give a little squeeze when you’re close. Then move your knees about shoulder width apart. Same idea. Inhale away until the arms are straight. Let the hips bring the knees in. And when they’re close, you can give a little hug, a little pull. And then go wider still. Inhale away till the arms are straight. And then exhale.
00:23:39:09 – 00:24:09:05
Bringing the knees in toward the armpits. And when you’re close, you can give a little hug. I gave you three variations because one of those felt the best in your back. That’s the one I want you to do. Whatever’s giving you the nicest stretch from tailbone, maybe even up into the chest area, whatever position: together, a little bit apart, armpit width or a little wider than your shoulders, your torso.
00:24:09:07 – 00:24:20:15
Try a few of those on your own. Try all three if you want to see which one suits you best.
00:24:20:17 – 00:24:48:01
So to come out, out of this position, bring your feet down and then take a moment to notice. Remember to come out of a lying position, we don’t want to stress our back and belly, so we’re going to roll over onto our right side. One arm around the head and then hands push up to a seated position.
00:24:48:01 – 00:25:05:08
And then from here, you can come up on your knees. You can use your chair if you need to bring one foot forward, two hands on the chair and up you come. I’m going to move my mat out of the way and bring my chair back where you can see me more clearly.
So the best place to notice your breath and how you’re responding is to deeply watch yourself breathe. And that’s why we always end with the same breath awareness practice. So find your seat. Give your feet a little pull to angle your pelvis.
00:25:46:08 – 00:26:17:09
Let the spine stack up through the curves and your chin lift a little bit, Hands on your thighs. Take a long, gentle inhale that makes you a little taller. And on exhale, close eyes, if that’s comfortable for you. Otherwise, just leave little slits where you can see your lap. Bring your attention to the breath in your nose and on exhale.
00:26:17:09 – 00:27:14:00
Soften your cheeks, let your forehead smooth and the little muscles around your eyes slow down. Bring your attention to the breath traveling through your throat and on exhale soften the space between ears and shoulders. Let your neck be long and soft. Bring your attention to the breath, moving your chest front back sides and don’t exhale. Soften that space between shoulders and arms so that the arms can be limp and soft.
00:27:14:02 – 00:28:06:06
Then bring your attention to the breath that moves your belly and on exhale soften the hip-leg connection so that legs can be solved. That connection in particular can be softened and then come into that little triangle from the bottom of the breastbone to your navel, where you can watch your diaphragm go up and down. Do that. And then with your next inhale, bring eyes open.
00:28:06:08 – 00:28:37:03
So could you have a sense, could you get a sense of your body responding to those breaths in how it softens and relaxes and how much quieter that breath is than the breath that you were using during the half Sun salutation or while you were coming up and down and bridge? Your resting breath is an interesting indicator of your nervous system status.
00:28:37:05 – 00:28:47:02
So please go on to the pranayama video that follows specifically for week eight. Thank you.
Additional Spring Class 1 Resources
- In today’s Pranayama Audio, we talked about
Comments or questions?
I’d love to hear about your experience with this week’s class and address any concerns you may have. If you’d prefer to reach out privately, send me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org.
Hi, I’m Kath. I teach yoga, breathwork, and meditation as a path to greater somatic awareness and nervous system regulation. Through this practice, I have learned to care for myself so that I can live more peacefully and more purposefully in my body, my mind, and the world. Read my full bio here.
I created KMKyoga for people like me, who can benefit tremendously from yoga but need an option that doesn’t break their bodies or their budget. All KMKyoga classes and learning resources are funded by donations. Learn more.